Inspiration challenges odds of abuse for the mentally challenged

by Kim Rizzitano

Some call Yanca Marie Rizzitano Marie, but to one lucky man, he now calls her mom. “Marie” Rizzitano became the legal guardian to Scott Cameron, a mentally challenged man, to take him out of the neglecting home of his alcoholic sister. Marie, a mother of seven, had always been described as having “a heart of gold”. She felt that “becoming Scott’s legal guardian was the right thing to for him”.
Marie met Scott through her daughter Veronica, also mentally challenged, at Veronica’s small part time job which Scott also worked at. Marie acquired the friendship of Scotts aging father Walter after Veronica and Scott quickly became friends.
After Walter died, Scott went to live with his twin sister who neglected him and took his government checks to fix her addiction. Marie, seeing the desperate situation, took action and took custody from Scott’s sister.
“I couldn’t leave him in a situation like that. It was unfair to him. Scott was not being properly taken care of,” said Marie.
“It’s her nature. When we were kids, she was caregiver to all of the kids in the neighborhood. She even ran a free daycare for the neighborhood kids. She has this cheaper by the dozen mentality. What’s one more to her? And she was always taking in stray animals whether it was a bird with a broken wing or an orphaned baby raccoon too,” said her son, Francis Rizzitano.
Unfortunately, neglect and abuse of the mentally challenged happens everyday and there are not enough people like Marie. The abuse rate of the mentally disabled is as high as ever and topped in 1995 when it was reported that more than 90 percent of all mentally impaired people would receive physical or sexual abuse sometime in their life. As reported in 2003 by R. Goldman, mentally challenged people are more likely to be abused because they are so dependent of their caregivers.
Mentally challenged children are especially vulnerable to neglect and abuse. In a study conducted in 2005, psychologist, Dick Sobsey found that children with mental disabilities are three times more likely to be abused than adults. This same study found that there have been 1,130 homicides of the mentally impaired over the last couple years. Most of the murders have been committed by the caregivers of the person.
This distressing fact displays the need for organizations like Camp Quinebaug, a camp that teaches mentally challenged children important lessons through agriculture. This process in which the children work in gardens is called horticultural therapy. Many of the children who participate in the camp come from broken homes and abusive situations. Bodil Anya, a horticultural therapist that works at the camp, works with the kids to better them physically and mentally.
People like Marie and organizations help better the lives of the mentally impaired and give the nation a hopeful outlook for this difficult situation.